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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Korked Bats

That Funny Sports Blog

Nebraska-Minnesota Is Today, And Korked Bats Has A Small Role In This Game’s Rivalry Trophy

Nebraska and Minnesota play today, in a fight for arguably the best rivalry trophy in all of college sports. Or at least the best rivalry trophy with the. funniest backstory. And I’m not just saying that because this blog had a role in that trophy coming to life. Ok, that’s part of why I’m saying it. But it’s still a hilarious story. Read below:

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Broken Chair Trophy, seen r/CFB members with the flair, but do you know your history? Gather ‘round, settle in, and listen up – it’s #ChairWeek – high time to make sure you respect this national treasure’s true roots.

Our story starts on November 20, 2014, when Goldy Gopher and Faux Pelini discuss a friendly wager on the outcome of the upcoming Minnesota v. Nebraska match-up.

At 10:34am on that fateful day, Goldy reaches out to r/CFB on Twitter to enlist the community’s help in designing a trophy. By 10:40am, a thread starts receiving responses with potential designs. User u/TopGoose registered an excellent early entry, but it was clear that by 11:53am Twitter account @korkedbats had submitted a design that would become the standard by which the trophy was constructed.

At 10:16pm that evening, Goldy was already hard at work building the first trophy, and at 8:42am the next day unleashed the completed product in all its glory upon the internet.

We’re talking in less than 24 hours, Goldy, Faux, and the r/CFB community had banded together to create a new college football trophy, and in a little over 48 hours from the initial interaction between Faux and Goldy, the trophy was being hoisted by Minnesota players in Lincoln, NE, as they celebrated a 28-24 victory.

What a storybook ending, right!? Immediately embraced by both schools into the rich pantheon of B1G trophies, Nebraska was officially part of the group… Not so fast, my friend! After acquiring the trophy the following year in a 48-25 victory, the Nebraska squad took it back to Lincoln. Coach Riley even kindly posed with the trophy for Nebraska’s official Twitter account. It wasn’t until Nebraska won the 2016 game that the horrible truth was revealed – the Universities collectively “lost” the trophy.

If the Universities wanted to plot the trophy’s demise, they made a fatal error by “losing” it, cementing its place in history with a classic case of B1G trophy origin lore. Many of us were pretty disappointed, some of us were plain pissed off. User u/hunterschuler went so far as to submit a FOIA request to the University of Nebraska in an attempt to find the trophy, but to no avail.

In the off-season, r/CFB press asked around about the trophy at B1G media days, eliciting responses from players like Minnesota’s Rodney Smith. At the same time, a group of Nebraska Redditors and r/CFB regulars were plotting the return of the trophy over at r/Huskers. Users u/andrewsmd87u/DarthFlutteshy_u/Greizen_bregen, and u/xAIRGUITARISTx collectively drew up plans, built a trophy, and started reaching out to contacts at the University of Nebraska regarding the trophy’s return – u/K_multiplied-by_K provided, in his words, “the (very shitty) dollar bills underneath the trophy.” Minnesota fan and Redditor u/DoctorCalMeacham reached out to the r/CFB mod team after hearing about the efforts by Nebraska fans to bring the trophy back, and was connected to the Husker group by u/Honestly_, who had a hand in the initial interactions between the original trophy creators. Add in a couple of non-Redditing Minnesotans and the trophy had a team ready to make things happen. The trophy was back for the 2017 game thanks in large part to the r/CFB community, it’s been hosted by Minnesota and Nebraska organizations the past two years, and it’s not going away any time soon.

via Reddit (r/CFB)

For more on the trophy, or to donate to the cause behind it, visit here. Best of luck to both teams. I wish I could go Cady Herron with my tiara and break off a piece for everyone because both schools are winners in my book.

Austin

Austin hosts a country music morning radio show in Chicago after nearly a decade in sports talk radio (The Jim Rome Show, Steve Gorman SPORTS!) Colin Cowherd and Smash Mouth follow him on Twitter and he wears pants every day.

Austin

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